There was a time when top golfers always favored the long irons over fairway woods, but those days are gone with even World No.1 Scottie Scheffler getting involved with a 7-wood making its way into his bag.
TaylorMade says Scheffler has put a Qi35 7-wood into his bag for the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines as a secret weapon for escaping the wet, juicy rough that is in play. The model is one of the best fairway woods on the market for 2025, having been revealed last month.
Scheffler usually carries just a 3-wood and a 3-iron for his long game, but after consulting with the club fitters at TaylorMade he opted to switch in a fairway wood for long shots out of the rough.
"Scottie worked with our TaylorMade Tour reps to build a club that could give him the best chance to advance the ball forward out of the rough," TaylorMade said.
"The way the Tour is setting up these courses for Signature Events demands being adaptable to the golf course," said TaylorMade senior tour manager Adrian Rietveld.
"Scottie’s 7-wood is not only more versatile than a 3-iron out of the rough, but can be used on the long par 3’s.”
Versatility is indeed a key with the club change, as Scheffler can use his 7-wood not only off the deck and in the rough, but also off the tee and even from a fairway bunker.
World No. 1 has a Qi35 7-wood in the bag this week. 👀 Scottie added the versatile club in anticipation of the long rough and wet conditions out at Torrey. Learn the full story on why it landed in the bag, as well as the unique specs, here: https://t.co/i7Ahjf5T5G pic.twitter.com/IUG1Zk6VpBFebruary 13, 2025
And Scheffler showed that he was instantly dialed in with the 7-wood as he used it seven times for all kinds of shots during the Pro-Am ahead of the Genesis Invitational.
TaylorMade said Scheffler took his 7-wood off the tee on long par 3s at the 11th and 16th at Torrey Pines, and also off the fairway on the par-5 13th.
Scheffler also used his 7-wood to escape the fairway bunker on the 12th, showing the height he can get from the club, which may well stay in the bag if he keeps hitting shots like that with it.
The 19.5 degree 7-wood was brought in to fill a gap between 3-iron and 4-iron with a yardage of 245 for Scheffler, and with a maximum height of 128 feet he's shown that it could be an all-purpose club for him in the future.
He is one of a number of pros using high-lofted woods on tour. Tommy Fleetwood and Dustin Johnson have both previously used 9-woods while 7-woods are becoming more and more common in the bags of the world's best.
